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Soledad
Soledad is the story of a young woman searching for her daughter, who was stolen in South America. It is the story of Taylor Reed, a lawyer from El Paso, Texas who agrees to help her, and in doing so uncovers crimes committed twenty years before in the prisons of Argentina. It is the story of sexual violence that continued beyond the military dictatorship that destroyed so many lives in Buenos Aires. It is a story of our time.
237 pages, Paperback
Published May 24, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 27, 2020
Needs work
Thank you Goodreads and Howard L. Anderson for the free ebook!
**Spoiler Alert**
While the subject matter of this story was meaningful and interesting, this book read more like a report in my opinion than a story. I felt like a supervisor in law enforcement reading a detailed report from my subordinate about the Pernisco Pictures and his involvement in helping bring the people in them to justice.
First off, yes there are a lot of missing or incorrect words and even a sentence I couldn’t make sense of. I don’t know if it was actually translated or not but it did feel like it was translated from Spanish to English. That didn’t bother me though. I think that it will be corrected in updated versions as the author has more fresh eyes on the work and gets feedback on where those places are. More distracting for me was the dialogue that got confusing at times. While I hate having “he said” and “she said” at the beginning or end of every piece of dialogue, having an entire ebook page of dialogue where either character could be the one saying what was said gets confusing without them. I had to go back on more than one occasion and figure out who was saying what. Perhaps adding how a phrase was said, what the character was doing while saying it or what they were thinking or feeling to the dialogue would help keep the dialogue straight and develop the characters at the same time.
The relationship between Soledad and Taylor seems to have materialized out of nowhere - she loves him because he is helping her get her daughter back and doesn’t hurt her or expect sex as payment and he feels sorry for what she’s been through and finds her irresistibly attractive. I was so happy when he refused to sleep with her at first. Moments later I was disappointed that he’s jumping into bed with her even though he knows she’s unstable because he can’t seem to control his manly urges. Yet their connection is so strong that she can send him a seemingly random photograph and he knows that it means he needs to go find her.
The next thing that bothered me about this story is how at first Taylor was going to get the girl back through legal means since he’s a lawyer and then he decides to go in with guns blazing to get her out. Pernisco is portrayed as a super powerful, government protected, friends in all the right places, guy who would have a security detail, thugs, or some kind of protection. Yet the big extraction scene involves Taylor and friends basically walking into Pernisco’s house and walking out with the girl. I wasn’t upset there wasn’t some big shoot out even though I was expecting one but I felt like this was the moment I was waiting for; they are going to save the girl or something awful is going to happen and they will have to keep chasing after her... and it just fell flat. It was like reading a report from a subordinate of how the extraction went versus being a heart-pounding, adrenaline rushing, feels like you’re there moment. I also felt it on the unbelievable side that the girl just willingly went with strangers who had basically broken into her house and kidnapped her. So she had seemingly loving parents, and Pernisco doted on her and made her feel special (since she was not yet old enough to be abused by him), yet she was willing to walk away without a struggle, tears of confusion, or a single question of what was happening?
From there I struggled to finish the book. With Soledad’s abusers murdered and her daughter rescued I wasn’t emotionally invested in the outcome of the trials. I didn’t feel connected enough to Soledad to question whether she ever came back to Taylor and her daughter. Roberto’s death and the resulting turmoil felt unnecessary to the story. It added a meeting between Taylor and Soledad at the funeral but everything else surrounding the death could have been left out. Roberto’s death and surrounding drama gave this a fictionalized autobiography feel.
Overall, I found the subject matter provocative and it left me wanting to research the Mechanics School to see if this book was based on true events. I think the author made the gravity of what was happening very apparent without being too gruesome in the details. While I’m normally not a huge fan of it, I think that this book might have benefited from a change in character perspective. Having some chapters told by Soledad - as flashbacks to her abuse, the time when she decided to, and did, leave her daughter behind, when she sent the random photograph to Taylor, her talking about stopping therapy and leaving her daughter behind a second time, her friendship with Tova and how they are emotionally entangled with the trials - could help to build the emotional connection between Soledad and the reader.
Thank you Goodreads and Howard L. Anderson for the free ebook!
**Spoiler Alert**
While the subject matter of this story was meaningful and interesting, this book read more like a report in my opinion than a story. I felt like a supervisor in law enforcement reading a detailed report from my subordinate about the Pernisco Pictures and his involvement in helping bring the people in them to justice.
First off, yes there are a lot of missing or incorrect words and even a sentence I couldn’t make sense of. I don’t know if it was actually translated or not but it did feel like it was translated from Spanish to English. That didn’t bother me though. I think that it will be corrected in updated versions as the author has more fresh eyes on the work and gets feedback on where those places are. More distracting for me was the dialogue that got confusing at times. While I hate having “he said” and “she said” at the beginning or end of every piece of dialogue, having an entire ebook page of dialogue where either character could be the one saying what was said gets confusing without them. I had to go back on more than one occasion and figure out who was saying what. Perhaps adding how a phrase was said, what the character was doing while saying it or what they were thinking or feeling to the dialogue would help keep the dialogue straight and develop the characters at the same time.
The relationship between Soledad and Taylor seems to have materialized out of nowhere - she loves him because he is helping her get her daughter back and doesn’t hurt her or expect sex as payment and he feels sorry for what she’s been through and finds her irresistibly attractive. I was so happy when he refused to sleep with her at first. Moments later I was disappointed that he’s jumping into bed with her even though he knows she’s unstable because he can’t seem to control his manly urges. Yet their connection is so strong that she can send him a seemingly random photograph and he knows that it means he needs to go find her.
The next thing that bothered me about this story is how at first Taylor was going to get the girl back through legal means since he’s a lawyer and then he decides to go in with guns blazing to get her out. Pernisco is portrayed as a super powerful, government protected, friends in all the right places, guy who would have a security detail, thugs, or some kind of protection. Yet the big extraction scene involves Taylor and friends basically walking into Pernisco’s house and walking out with the girl. I wasn’t upset there wasn’t some big shoot out even though I was expecting one but I felt like this was the moment I was waiting for; they are going to save the girl or something awful is going to happen and they will have to keep chasing after her... and it just fell flat. It was like reading a report from a subordinate of how the extraction went versus being a heart-pounding, adrenaline rushing, feels like you’re there moment. I also felt it on the unbelievable side that the girl just willingly went with strangers who had basically broken into her house and kidnapped her. So she had seemingly loving parents, and Pernisco doted on her and made her feel special (since she was not yet old enough to be abused by him), yet she was willing to walk away without a struggle, tears of confusion, or a single question of what was happening?
From there I struggled to finish the book. With Soledad’s abusers murdered and her daughter rescued I wasn’t emotionally invested in the outcome of the trials. I didn’t feel connected enough to Soledad to question whether she ever came back to Taylor and her daughter. Roberto’s death and the resulting turmoil felt unnecessary to the story. It added a meeting between Taylor and Soledad at the funeral but everything else surrounding the death could have been left out. Roberto’s death and surrounding drama gave this a fictionalized autobiography feel.
Overall, I found the subject matter provocative and it left me wanting to research the Mechanics School to see if this book was based on true events. I think the author made the gravity of what was happening very apparent without being too gruesome in the details. While I’m normally not a huge fan of it, I think that this book might have benefited from a change in character perspective. Having some chapters told by Soledad - as flashbacks to her abuse, the time when she decided to, and did, leave her daughter behind, when she sent the random photograph to Taylor, her talking about stopping therapy and leaving her daughter behind a second time, her friendship with Tova and how they are emotionally entangled with the trials - could help to build the emotional connection between Soledad and the reader.
July 3, 2020
I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway. At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about the writing style of the author, but by the end I found myself wrapped up in the story and I’m glad I read the book.
The first half of the book felt a little stiff, as if the author was switching from a nonfiction story to a fictional one and back, and the nonfiction sections felt similar to reading a report in the newspaper. I almost thought that perhaps this was a fictionalized autobiography, and in the “true to life” parts, the facts were overwhelming, so was more of a recitation that the unfolding of a plot.
At about the 50% part of the book, the author seemed to settle into the story side of the novel, and it becomes much more of a flowing style , though still slightly formal. It was once I reached that point that I stayed up until 2:30am to find out what happened to the characters. There was never a time when I was absolutely sure of what the conclusion would be, the book spanned much more time than I first expected, and there were many events that unfolded that kept me guessing.
I believe that the author did an excellent job in leading his reader through a very gruesome story about the atrocities that happened to the people in Paraguay and Argentina. He handled very intense subjects with grace and dignity, but he didn’t hold back, so be forewarned. I honestly had never heard about all that had happened in South America, I had some small idea, but the vastness of horrors that occurred was shocking to me.
The only small thing that gave me pause is that it seems as if the book might have been a translation to English? It’s almost perfect, but there are over two dozen times when I noticed the author left out small words from his sentences, not every time the word appeared, but a single time in many sentences, words such as, “a, the, of, was”, just forgotten. Overall, it didn’t affect the book in any significant way, it just happened, and my brain registered that they were missing.
I’m not sure I would have picked this book up based on the cover, and if I didn’t feel obligated to finish it so I could write a review, I’m not sure I would have persisted to where the book “got good”...but I’m glad I did stick with it!
BTW, I’m living in El Paso, TX right now, so it was sort of cool to read that part of the story takes place in this town! And I’ve been to Cielo Vista Mall!
The first half of the book felt a little stiff, as if the author was switching from a nonfiction story to a fictional one and back, and the nonfiction sections felt similar to reading a report in the newspaper. I almost thought that perhaps this was a fictionalized autobiography, and in the “true to life” parts, the facts were overwhelming, so was more of a recitation that the unfolding of a plot.
At about the 50% part of the book, the author seemed to settle into the story side of the novel, and it becomes much more of a flowing style , though still slightly formal. It was once I reached that point that I stayed up until 2:30am to find out what happened to the characters. There was never a time when I was absolutely sure of what the conclusion would be, the book spanned much more time than I first expected, and there were many events that unfolded that kept me guessing.
I believe that the author did an excellent job in leading his reader through a very gruesome story about the atrocities that happened to the people in Paraguay and Argentina. He handled very intense subjects with grace and dignity, but he didn’t hold back, so be forewarned. I honestly had never heard about all that had happened in South America, I had some small idea, but the vastness of horrors that occurred was shocking to me.
The only small thing that gave me pause is that it seems as if the book might have been a translation to English? It’s almost perfect, but there are over two dozen times when I noticed the author left out small words from his sentences, not every time the word appeared, but a single time in many sentences, words such as, “a, the, of, was”, just forgotten. Overall, it didn’t affect the book in any significant way, it just happened, and my brain registered that they were missing.
I’m not sure I would have picked this book up based on the cover, and if I didn’t feel obligated to finish it so I could write a review, I’m not sure I would have persisted to where the book “got good”...but I’m glad I did stick with it!
BTW, I’m living in El Paso, TX right now, so it was sort of cool to read that part of the story takes place in this town! And I’ve been to Cielo Vista Mall!
October 2, 2020
Thank you to Howard Anderson and Goodreads for the free e-book! Three and a half stars rounded up.
The plot of the story was very engaging and different. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it since it was a giveaway and seems to be getting very little attention. The writing was fairly simple, but it evoked feelings and had some good descriptions that brought pictures to my mind.
It dragged a bit near the end, but I got hooked on what would happen to Soledad and Taylor early on. I knew a bit about the desaparecidos, and this gave me more background information about the mothers who have lost their children. Soledad's character was unusual and at times frustrating, but overall I enjoyed reading the book.
The big negative for me was that the book needed an editor! It was filled with grammatical errors, missing words, and typos. Almost every page had one in the second half of the book! I'm not sure why that wasn't corrected before its release. Anyone with a decent grasp of English should have been able to fix most of these they were so obvious.
Errors aside, the author has potential, and I would try another book by him.
The plot of the story was very engaging and different. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it since it was a giveaway and seems to be getting very little attention. The writing was fairly simple, but it evoked feelings and had some good descriptions that brought pictures to my mind.
It dragged a bit near the end, but I got hooked on what would happen to Soledad and Taylor early on. I knew a bit about the desaparecidos, and this gave me more background information about the mothers who have lost their children. Soledad's character was unusual and at times frustrating, but overall I enjoyed reading the book.
The big negative for me was that the book needed an editor! It was filled with grammatical errors, missing words, and typos. Almost every page had one in the second half of the book! I'm not sure why that wasn't corrected before its release. Anyone with a decent grasp of English should have been able to fix most of these they were so obvious.
Errors aside, the author has potential, and I would try another book by him.
July 20, 2020
A truly riveting read
Soledad ranks right up there amongst my all time favorite books. It was a fascinating and totally engrossing read. I felt that I was walking the streets of Buenos Aires and Asunción right alongside the main characters. (It helped that I had visited both cities as a tourist back in the eighties).
The authors writing style has a nice flow to it and easily retains your attention throughout, even though the subject matter is a little rough at times. This book is written about a sad and dark part of the history of both Argentina and Paraguay. It is written with compassion and insight.
I am already recommending this book to all my friends and I am hoping for a sequel
Soledad ranks right up there amongst my all time favorite books. It was a fascinating and totally engrossing read. I felt that I was walking the streets of Buenos Aires and Asunción right alongside the main characters. (It helped that I had visited both cities as a tourist back in the eighties).
The authors writing style has a nice flow to it and easily retains your attention throughout, even though the subject matter is a little rough at times. This book is written about a sad and dark part of the history of both Argentina and Paraguay. It is written with compassion and insight.
I am already recommending this book to all my friends and I am hoping for a sequel
June 29, 2021
There are many ways to evaluate this book. It was a fascinating plot and a great review of South American history that we don’t often hear about. This author certainly limits himself to the critical words. Sort of like “just the facts, ma’am, just the facts!”. It is a very spare writing style and struck me as amateur. Don’t expect any details whatsoever. Still, the characters were likable enough. He needs an editor (or a better one, anyway), as there are many mistakes… everything from getting Spanish phrases completely wrong to missing entire words very often, at least in the Kindle version. And yet the story still kept my attention.
August 27, 2020
I won this as a Goodreads Giveaway
Soledad is the story of a young woman searching for her daughter, who was stolen in South America. It is the story of Taylor Reid, a lawyer from El Paso, Texas who agrees to help her, and in doing so uncovers crimes committed twenty years before in the prisons of Argentina. So the book involves sexual violence that destroyed many lives.
I wonder if the book was translated, because sometimes words in sentences were missing. It just did not seem to "flow" well. It was an interesting story, but hard to get through at times.
Soledad is the story of a young woman searching for her daughter, who was stolen in South America. It is the story of Taylor Reid, a lawyer from El Paso, Texas who agrees to help her, and in doing so uncovers crimes committed twenty years before in the prisons of Argentina. So the book involves sexual violence that destroyed many lives.
I wonder if the book was translated, because sometimes words in sentences were missing. It just did not seem to "flow" well. It was an interesting story, but hard to get through at times.
January 8, 2021
I won this book through Goodreads Giveaway & Amazon Kindle. This is a short book but a good read! It is different in that Taylor is an attorney in America, friends with, it seems, Mexicans and many in South America or, he just does business with them, except for Roberto. I don't know how an author has someone die. Do they put the names in a bag and pull them out? Corruption in South American countries, WOW. Justice for Soledad and Maya. You will "get into" this book and won't be able to put it down.
March 10, 2021
Anderson is one of my favorite storytellers. I had a hard time putting this book down.
Even the quiet moments were tense as I tried to figure out Soledad's motivations and predict her responses/reactions. I was genuinely nervous about whether there would be a happy ending. I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway and was so glad I caught up with it. (Thank you for selecting me!)
Even the quiet moments were tense as I tried to figure out Soledad's motivations and predict her responses/reactions. I was genuinely nervous about whether there would be a happy ending. I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway and was so glad I caught up with it. (Thank you for selecting me!)
January 19, 2021
Compelling
I really enjoyed the beginning of the book but the graphic sex was a little hard to take and the book became somewhat dark in the middle. I almost stopped reading it. There were a few things that seemed unrealistic, but I must admit I felt comfortable to continue reading. Lastly, you need to fire your editor! There are SO MANY TYPOS! I lost count after 20! Misspelled words, doubles words, missing words etc., my 15 yr old could have done a better job at editing and would have graded this as an “F”!
I really enjoyed the beginning of the book but the graphic sex was a little hard to take and the book became somewhat dark in the middle. I almost stopped reading it. There were a few things that seemed unrealistic, but I must admit I felt comfortable to continue reading. Lastly, you need to fire your editor! There are SO MANY TYPOS! I lost count after 20! Misspelled words, doubles words, missing words etc., my 15 yr old could have done a better job at editing and would have graded this as an “F”!
January 30, 2021
Soledad by Howard L. Anderson is an amazing story that I have read. I loved reading this story very much because I love reading about thrillers and suspense. I highly recommend this story to everyone who loves reading about thrillers and suspense in their stories.
July 25, 2020
Just an okay read. This was translated to English and many words were left out of sentences. I did get this ebook from a Goodreads Giveaway.
February 6, 2021
Fast read
Short, fast read. Written differently than what I’m used to but that’s not a bad thing. Almost seemed like I was reading a case file.
Short, fast read. Written differently than what I’m used to but that’s not a bad thing. Almost seemed like I was reading a case file.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews